Friday, December 24, 2010

Nefi No More

The Nefertiti bust is, I think, one of the most spectacular representations of feminine beauty I have ever seen. When living in Berlin I'd generally go see her every six weeks or so, always on the free Thursday nights. I kept that up after I became just a visitor, albeit a frequent one, going to see her most times I was here, even if it was just to drop in for 10 minutes. Last fall she was moved from the Altes Museum to the newly opened Neues Museum which I wrote about here.I always knew my no-cost love affair would end some day. In this case, I returned to Berlin this December to find the free entry (last four hours each Thursday) terminated by the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, which means no more popping in just to blow her kisses. But I think I always secretly hoped my love affair would end by her being returned to the Cairo Egyptian Museum, where she belongs. Aufweidersehen, schöne Königin. It was a beautiful four years. Now I hope you make it back home some time this century.

No comments:

About Me

Search This Blog

Blog Archive

My 'Ich Werde Ein Berliner' Test

You're Karl Lagerfeld

The computers determined that your ability to blend in wiz ze Germans is about the same as that of celebrity fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. "Wait a minute" you say, "isn't he German? Woohoo! I did it, I am a proper German now!". Not so fast Auslander. Keep the champagne chilled for now. The truth is, you failed this personality test miserably by achieving the lowest possible score.
This is the detailed personality assessment for you and Karl:

• You were born in Hamburg, Germany, but moved to Paris when you were about 20, never looking back or getting homesick.

Now, as we learned before, it is a requirement for any German person to 1) love Hamburg unconditionally and 2) do blog and forum raids on the internet to try to shut up any Hamburg-critical voice. All German people are aspiring to move to Hamburg one day to live in what they believe to be "the most beautiful city in the world". Karl however has been overheard calling Hamburg boring, provincial, and is said to be not really keen on visiting the place unless someone pays him a lot of money.

• Even though you claim to be a creative person, nobody has ever seen you sporting messy hair, a scruffy beard, a fedora hat, plaids, Chucks, or oversized nerd glasses.

• You also never attended any indie punk rock concert of "upcoming" local bands, where you expressed your edginess by splashing around cheap beer in an ironic way and "going totally wild and crazy".

The bottom line of your test result is - you are still stuck on square one of the imaginary "Ich werde ein Berliner" board game. You'll have to work a lot harder from now on, or you may never blend in wiz ze Germans. Why not start by reading Ich werde ein Berliner all over again now? Preferably on an Apple-branded Laptop in a nearby "alternative" cafe.